In 1999, just after a war in the Balkans, the EU failed to find a political solution to a conflict that took place along its borders. In response to this failure, the European Security and Defense Policy -ESDP- was instituted by the Cologne European Council in June 1999. Member States decided to establish European military capabilities needed to assume this role on the international scene and its responsibilities for crisis management. ESDP, integrated with Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), today deals specifically with issues related to security and defense and thus allows the EU to undertake various civil and military missions. It does not create a European army but identifies civilian and military resources that member states can mobilize within the logistical framework required for an EU mission. The missions are defined in the Constitution of Europe and were first identified in 1992 by the WEU as Petersburg tasks. The doctrine was adopted as the European Security Strategy in December 2003.

To carry out all these various missions, the main function of the ESDP is to define the objectives of force (Headline Goal), that is to say the forces capable of meeting all the tasks listed above. Javier Solana, dedicated efforts in 2002 to provide full consistency and efficiency in a common foreign policy that seeks to enhance the overall resources available to the EU. ESDP is really operating as claimed by the declaration made at the Laeken European Council? In the course of the past seven years, ESDP has come a long way indeed at an impressive pace and with results.